Hidden Moments
by Eternal Destiny 304
Summary: This is the product of a random urge to write a story based on speculation about Brennan wearing Booth's medal in the airport scene of the season 5 finale and the possibility that there was a goodbye scene that wasn't shown. SPOILER for 5x22. Please R&R!


**A/N: This is a spontaneous fic based on some speculation I read about Brennan wearing Booth's medal in the airport scene and the possibility of a goodbye scene that we didn't get to see. I wrote it in one sitting, and with very little editing, so I'm sorry if anything feels awkward or poorly written. It was just one of those things that needed to come out and I thought I'd share it with you all since I know ya'll love Bones as much as I do. =)  
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**Anyway, enjoy. It might be a little fluffy, but I hope you won't mind. As always, leave me a review! Hearing from you only inspires me to write more! **

**Hopefully this will have worked out the last of my finale angst so that I can return to my other story, "Don't Worry, I've Got You." Should be updated tomorrow. Hopefully. *Crosses fingers* (I might be addicted to writing Bones. Just saying.)  
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**Disclaimer: I do not own Bones or any of the characters. **

~B/B~**  
**

"Hey, there you are." Booth stepped out onto the patio of her apartment and she turned away from the railing to face him.

"Fresh air." She said, explaining her disappearance.

"Yeah, I guess it's pretty intense in there, huh." He came to lean next to her on the railing. "Not exactly the quiet evening we'd planned."

She shook her head, looking out over the city. "No, but it's good that we can all say goodbye at once."

"You'll be here for another week." He pointed out. "I'm the one skipping out early."

She didn't reply and they fell into a comfortable but pregnant silence. Subtly, he shifted, closing the inch or two between them so that their arms touched. It was a casual movement, but one that even she picked up on and was grateful for. The contact was stabilizing. Certain.

"I'm doing the right thing, Bones." He said after several minutes had passed. "Sometimes there are things that are more important than what I want. If I can save lives…"

"You don't have to justify yourself, Booth." She said, looking over at him. "Not to me. Besides, I'm leaving you too. You don't have to feel guilty."

"Are you leaving me, Bones?" He asked softly, angling himself to face her.

"You know I am." She said, speaking literally.

He reached out and touched her hair, pushing it gently off of her shoulder. "You're not really." He told her, smiling a small, sad smile. "Because you'll still be with me. Even when I'm in Afghanistan, you'll still be with me."

"I don't understand." She said, holding his gaze.

He picked up her hand and laid it on his chest, over his heart. "You'll be here." He told her, stroking her fingers. He lifted her hand so that it cradled the side of his head, her fingers in his hair. "And here." He told her. "So in a way, you'll still be with me. In my heart. In my head."

"Booth." She closed her eyes, opening them again slowly, painfully. She let her hand fall lower so that her palm was on his cheek. Covering her hand with his, he turned and pressed a kiss against her wrist.

"Booth." There was a near terror in her voice. "Please, this is too hard."

"I'm sorry." He said, releasing her hand and moving away from her. "I don't mean to…" He trailed off, leaning against the railing again, this time several feet away.

She hesitated, watching him as he stared into the night, his jaw firm, his body tense. Slowly, she moved towards him and slipped her arm through his, resting her head on his shoulder. With only a second's delay, she felt him rest his head on her hair and his other hand covered hers.

~B/B~

Inside her apartment their families looked on as the partners talked. Max and Pops had stopped their bickering with each other to discuss their respective children while Russ and Rebecca took a more silent approach.

"He's going to make a move less than twelve hours before he has to report to the base." Max complained. "Good man, terrible timing."

"He'll do what he thinks is best." Pops said. "Seeley always does."

"Trust me, Tempe is the best." Max said, eyeing the older man. "They need each other. She's good for him. He'd better scoop her up while she's still available. There isn't a man alive who wouldn't want my daughter."

"Dad." Russ objected. "Come on, stop staring. You know Tempe would be mad if she knew."

"I'm just looking out for her best interest." Max said. "Anybody can see that she loves him. He needs to make a move."

"Seeley is cautious." Rebecca joined in, taking her attention off of Parker who was curled up on the couch fast asleep. "Always has been. He's not the type to start something the night before he leaves for a year."

"Looks to me like something's already started." Russ said, standing up and starting to gather up the dessert plates. "Dad, let her be."

~B/B~

Their fingers were laced and his thumb was tracing patterns on the back of her hand. She seemed unable to lift her gaze away from the sight of their hands so intimately linked.

"I'm sorry, Bones." He said.

That made her look up. "For what?" She asked, belatedly realizing how close his face was to hers.

"For burning you out." He said, looking down at her. "For not realizing how much harder this was for you. For keeping you from what you really love."

"Booth." She shook her head. "I have loved working with you. What we do, did, do… it's important and I was the one who wanted to be a part of it." She shrugged, looking down. "Its just not all that's important to me."

"I know." He said, nodding. "I'm happy for you. I really am."

"It's only a year." She said, as much to herself as to him. "Then we'll be back. Cam has assured me that I can return to my position at the Jeffersonian and you…" She looked up anxiously.

"I'm only on a leave of absence." He assured her. "I'll be back as Special Agent Seeley Booth, Jeffersonian liaison. No problem."

She offered a small smile. "Exactly. No problem. We'll see each other all the time at work. Just like we always have."

He grew more serious, turning towards her and taking both of her hands. "I'm not just going to be missing my partner, Bones. I'm going to be missing my friend."

"I know." She said, her eyes glued to his. "I will miss your friendship too."

"Then meet me." He said, suddenly. One year from next week when you leave. Meet me at our place, on the mall. By the coffee cart. Don't wait for work to kick back in with a case. Meet me as soon as you get home."

She smiled at his urgency. "Yes. Ok." She promised. "It will be the first place I go."

He pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her, his face turned towards her hair. "It's going to be so strange to not see you every day." He said, holding her close.

"I expect we'll grow more used to it." She said, relaxing against him.

"I'm not sure I want to get used to it." He confessed.

She didn't reply, focusing on tracing the muscles of his back and shoulders. His large, strong hand trailed her spine, touching each vertebra all the way up under her hair to her neck. He rested his fingers there, dragging his thumb along the curve of her neck. She let out a soft sigh into his shoulder that had his whole body tensing.

Neither seemed willing to pull away, and their hug lingered until the term no longer described it. Until it became obvious that they were just holding each other because they wanted to be touching, connected, comforted. Unable to stop himself, he pressed his lips to her hair, her forehead. When she didn't become skittish, he kissed her jaw and her ear as well, still instinctively steering clear of her lips and even her cheek, for fear of where it would lead him.

"I have something for you." He finally said, drawing back and allowing his hands to drop from her. Reaching in his pocket, he drew out the necklace he'd brought. It had his medal resting neatly on a sturdy chain. Meeting her eyes, he held it up for her to see.

"Booth, you can't give that to me." She protested.

"Don't argue." He said, smiling at her. "I want you to have it. Wear it. Every single day. That way I can be with you too, and you can be safe."

She was silent as he reached behind her and fastened the necklace around his neck. Gently, he laid one finger on the medal now resting on her skin, and she reached up to press his hand down over it.

"I'll wear it, Booth, but I don't need a necklace to remember you by. I can't forget." She confessed.

His eyes met hers and he let out a groan of resignation before reaching up to cup her neck and jerk her to him, his mouth crashing on to hers.

She kissed him back urgently, her hands going to his face, his shoulders. Her lips met his stroke for stroke and when he sought entrance to her mouth she gave it willingly. All thought fled from his mind as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed her tightly against him. Turning he pinned her between his body and the railing.

Then she was alternately pulling away and yielding to his kiss as she tried to regain control of the situation. "Booth, wait." She pleaded, covering his hungry lips with her fingers. "We can't… not like this."

"I know." He said, letting go of her and stepping away. He turned his back to her and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes he came face to face with Max , Pops, Russ and Rebecca all gaping at him through the glass door and he swore. "Pops, close the curtain." He shouted and his grandfather immediately did so as Booth dragged a hand through his hair. "Great." He muttered.

Brennan was quiet and he turned to her. "Bones, I'm sorry." He said, watching her.

"No." She shook her head. "Stop apologizing to me, Booth. This is not your fault. Not the past five years, not our separation, not that kiss. Stop apologizing."

"Sorry." He said, then caught himself with a laugh. "Ok, ok." He moved back over to the railing. "Why now? Why does it have to be now?"

"It's not now." She said, shaking her head. "We're just feeling emotional. If we were being logical, we would never have allowed that to happen."

He jerked his eyes to her. "So, what, it just didn't happen then? It doesn't count?"

"No." She said, looking at him sadly. "Booth, it can't." She moved to him and took his hand. "Not now. Not when we're both leaving. It would be disastrous. We would have all of the problems that have always kept us apart in addition to actually being physically apart."

"I know." He muttered, looking down. "You're right."

"I don't even know if I'll have consistent means of communication there." She continued. "We can't do… this, and then not speak for a year."

"I know!" He said, frustrated. "But it still happened, Bones."

"Yes, it did." She acknowledged. "It happened. And perhaps… when we return…. Perhaps we can explore why it happened or if we want it to happen again."

He laced his fingers with hers. "I already know the answer to both of those questions."

She shook her head. "No, Booth. You can't commit to anything right now. You can't. You might get to Afghanistan and change your mind. The separation could take its toll on you or you could meet someone. Someone more compatible with…"

His mouth covered hers again and her sentence was arrested as he made a sincere attempt to devour her lips.

"Booth!" She protested, pulling away. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry." He said. "Or, not sorry. Whatever. I just always wanted to try that as a way to shut you up when you're talking crazy."

"I'm not… talking crazy." She said, regaining her breath. "It's perfectly possible that you could meet someone…" She trailed off when he leaned forward with that look in his eye again.

"Bones, you don't stop loving someone just because you don't see them for a year." He told her.

She looked at him in shock. "You…?"

"You know I do." He said, smiling at her. "You know."

She nodded. "Booth, I…"

He stopped her, laying a finger over her lips. "Don't say it." He said, shaking his head. "Please, Bones, if were going to say it back, please don't."

Her brow furrowed. "Why? I thought that…"

"If you say it back, if you look at me with those blue eyes, and you say it back then I'll do something stupid. I'll try to find a way out of service. Move to Indonesia. I can't pull off a loin cloth, Bones." He gave her a half hearted smile. "Don't say it back."

"Ok." She said. "I won't."

He touched her face, trailing his thumb over her bottom lip. "So what do we do?" He asked after a long moment. "What's next?"

"We leave." She said sadly. "Tomorrow you go into the army and in a week I go to Indonesia."

"Yeah, but what about this? What about us?" He asked.

She shook her head. "We're partners. Friends. We go our separate ways, no commitment, no requirements." She looked down. "In a year, we'll come back and we'll see where we are then. But right now…"

"Right now we're Booth and Bones." He said. "Just us."

"Yes." She said, meeting his eyes. "If we're ever going to have a chance at this…"

"We have to be patient." He finished her sentence again.

"Yes."

"I'm not great with patience." He said, touching his forehead to hers.

"What's a year?" She said, smiling softly.

"One rotation of the earth around the sun." He said, catching her reference.

"In the scheme of things." She replied.

"Ok." He said, wrapping his arms around her again. "One year. I can do that. Hey, I've done it before. I'm just glad this time you're not going to slap me and storm out first."

"I might." She said. "You never know."

He chuckled, releasing her. "You made a joke, Bones."

She wasn't smiling. "I'm going to miss you very much. I suspect that no one in Indonesia will respond to me as well as you do."

"They'd better not." He said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Don't be too lonely, Bones. Remember everything we've talked about, ok? About interacting with people. If you let them really see you, they'll love you."

She nodded. "Booth, we have to go back inside. This is Pops last night with you too. Parker's last night."

"You're right." He said, sighing. "Say goodbye to me now, Bones. Like this is the last moment we'll see each other for a year."

"But it's not." She said, frowning. "You'll still come to the airport and we have tonight."

"I know." He said. "But there won't be another moment like this. At the airport I'll have to watch you walk away and I won't be able to if I really say goodbye there." He drew her into his arms and held her close. "At the airport we'll keep it friendly. I'll tell you to be safe and you'll promise you will be. I'll squeeze your hand and look into your eyes and then I'll walk away and remember this moment when you were in my arms. When we said our real goodbye."

She clung to him and he felt her tears soak through the fabric of his shirt. "Don't cry, baby." He said, rubbing her back. "Please, don't cry."

"Thank you." She said. "Thank you for being my partner. For being my friend."

"Trust me, Bones, its been my pleasure." He kissed her hair before pulling her away and touching his lips to hers, keeping the kiss sweet and soft and non-threatening. "You have to take care of yourself. I won't be there to do it for you. Eat. Every day, Bones. I mean it. And sleep. That's all I ask, ok?" He smiled. "And think of me."

She nodded. "You have to stay safe. Don't throw out your back or injure yourself during your training exercises. Please. And try not to blame yourself for other people's injuries or deaths. Booth, I know how hard being in the army was for you before. I know you take the loss of life seriously, and I admire you for it. Just, please, remain rational. For me."

"I'll do my best." He promised. "I love you." He said quickly. "Every moment of every day we're apart, I'll still be loving you." He kissed her again, short and sweet. "I'm so proud of you."

"I'm proud to know you." She said, looking into his eyes. "I've never known a better man."

"That's you." He said, touching her cheek. "You make me that man."

"No." She shook her head. "No it's not me. It's who you are."

Taking a deep breath he looked into her eyes. "Goodbye, Temperance."

"Goodbye Booth." She said, tears in her eyes once again.

Hooking her arm through his, he led her back inside, to their waiting families where they spent the remaining hours of the night talking and laughing. When he left her place in the morning, he gave her a grin and a light, easy hug. "See ya, Bones." He said.

~B/B~

One week later he showed up to the airport and she walked towards him. He told her to be safe. She asked him not to be a hero.

One year, he reminded her. In one year they'd meet again. The implication in his words was clear. In one year they'd meet again and pick up where they had left off that night on the balcony of her apartment.

Their hands linked, and though they both had to work to restrain themselves, it was the only contact either allowed. The sight of his medal around her neck sent warmth through him and eased his troubled mind. He'd stay with her, wherever she went.

With one last look into her eyes, he dropped her hand and walked away, the memory of her lips, her embrace fresh in his mind.

After only a few steps, he turned, hoping to catch one last glimpse of her and she surprised him by turning too. The longing in her eyes comforted him and gave him the strength to walk away, confident that the next time he saw her there would be nothing to keep them apart.

~B/B~

**Hope you liked reading it as much as I liked writing it! Leave me a note, pretty, pretty please! =) Thanks, guys. **


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